Following the rapid advancement of digital imaging technology, it is a great tendency that digital cameras almost take the place of the conventional film cameras in the photographic market. Compared with the conventional film cameras, the digital cameras have many magical advantages. For example, the digital camera can display images on a screen immediately after they are recorded. Moreover, the storage capacity of the memory card exceeds the film very much to allow thousands of images to be stored on a single memory card. Furthermore, the user can delete images to free storage space at any time. Besides, the digital images are suitable to be processed by computers cooperating with image processing program.
Except that a small portion of the digital files are printed on smooth papers, most digital photographs are displayed through computers. In this circumstance, digital photo frames are developed to display digital images without the use of the computer. The digital photo frame can receive and show digital files directly from the memory card. Certain digital photo frames have built-in memory device to allow the users to upload pictures to the memory device via a USB connection, or wirelessly via bluetooth technology.
Please refer to FIGS. 1A and 1B respectively illustrating the appearance and a back view of a traditional digital photo frame. The digital photo frame 1 includes a LCD display 12 embedded in an outside frame 11. The digital images are usually displayed on the LCD display 12 in a slideshow with an adjustable time interval. In order to provide the largest view, the buttons 13 for controlling the display of the digital images are usually mounted at the backside of the digital photo frames 1. In addition, a USB port 14 and a memory card slot 15 are provided to allow the digital photo frame 1 to communicate with the digital camera and read digital files from the memory card, respectively. If the digital photo frame 1 supports to play video clips, a speaker 16 is optionally disposed in the digital photo frame 1 to play audio signals.
It is not convenient and user-friendly for the user to press the buttons 13 to control the display of the digital images because the user has to stretch his finger in an unnatural manner to touch the buttons 13 behind the digital photo frame 1. To overcome this problem, the digital photo frame 1 may be designed to be operated by remote control. Remote controls are burdensome because no proper space to place the remote controller so it got lost very often. Another approach is implementing the display 12 with a touch panel or touch pad. Hence, the user can control the display by touching the screen without pressing the buttons behind the digital photo frame. However, using the touch panel significantly increases the cost. Furthermore, after a certain period of use, the user may find ugly fingerprints all over the screen.
Therefore, there is a need of providing an improved digital photo frame to obviate the drawbacks encountered from the prior art.